The Year She Will Say Yes
by loveyourdash
Summary: Getting on the train for his final year at Hogwarts James Potter is one last year to win the affection of Lily Evans. His dad reassures him that this is the year she will say yes, but James has his doubts...
1. Chapter 1

James Potter kissed his mother on the cheek as he bid them goodbye. He had done this each time he said goodbye to her, but it felt more important than ever in the dangerous times in which they lived.

"Goodbye James sweetie," his dark haired mother grinned, "we are so proud of you" she beamed as she glanced down at head boy badge that was pinned to his chest.

His father, who was in every way just an older version of James himself pulled him into a hug "Goodbye Kid", whispering his ear too low for Mrs Potter to hear "I have a funny feeling this is the year she will say yes."

James pulled away laughing at his dad's optimism, and glanced over to the girl they discussed, who was currently looking frustrated at a slightly older girl in muggle clothing that James assumed was her older sister.

"See ya mum, see ya dad. Stay safe." He said, forcing a smile at his auror parents.

"You too baby," his mum smiled, "and look after Sirius."

"I will." James Potter smiled at them one more time before grabbing his trunk and throwing it up onto the train where his best friend was already waiting for him. Sirius waved one more time at his adopted parents, the Potters before leading his friend away to the compartment that already housed Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin.

James shoved his case into the luggage holder before sighing. " Remus and I have a prefect meeting."

Sirius grinned, "Our wee Jamsie. Head boy, who would have thought?"

Peter laughed, "Evans is going to freak when she finds out you are going to be heads together this year."

"She got head girl?" James' tried to act nonchalantly, pushing his hair out of his eyes as he spoke.

Remus answered, "yes, she told me when she wrote during the summer."

"Great" James replied, trying to supress the pang of jealously he felt towards Remus. He knew it wasn't Remus's fault for being friends with the girl he fancied. "Come on Remus, let's not give her a reason to be annoyed with me before we even get to Hogwarts."

Remus led the way to the prefects meeting in the back compartment of the train. When they got there the room had already been largely filled with the prefects. James left Remus to join Lily at the front, going through the list of information Dumbledore had sent them to share with the prefects.

"Hey Lilybean"

She jumped at the sound of his voice in his ear. "Potter!" she turned to face him, "so the rumours are true. Congratulations on making head boy."

"Thanks, Think Dumbledore might be doting in his old age. No idea why he would pick me"

"Me neither." She replied sharply.

He decided to be polite in the face of her hostility. After all, they needed to work together for the rest of the summer and he had decided at Christmas last year he needed to change tactics if he wanted to get Lily Evans to go out with him. "Well you are the obvious choice for head girl. Congratulations."

She looked back at him with a slightly surprised expression on her face for a second before schooling her expression. "Thanks Potter."

"So I have never been to a prefects meeting before. So how about you take the lead. Set an example for me to follow." He suggested shrugging.

"Is that the mighty, wise James Potter admitting he might not know something?" she said in a joking tone, trying to hide her genuine surprise. When he didn't reply she just nodded and started the meeting.

At the end of the meeting James told Remus to go on without him, telling him he had offered to help Lily clean up. James gathered up some papers while Lily listened to Alice Prewett talk about her new boyfriend Frank; a guy who had finished Hogwarts a few years earlier and was training to be an auror. When Alice left Lily helped gather up the remaining paper cups and throw them in the bin.

"Thanks for helping." She smiled.

James was pretty sure Lily Evans had never smiled at him before. It was enough to make his heart to that flippy thing it sometimes did around her. "You're welcome. How was your summer?"

"It was good. My sister has finished school and got a new job so she wasn't around much. It was nice to get some peace and quiet away from her."

James smiled, "Yeah, sometimes family can be a wee bit too much. My mum is constantly trying to set me up with daughters of her friends. One of them was fourteen. I told mum she was too young, but she wouldn't let it go."

Lily smiled, "That's so funny."

"Yeah, my mum is mental but she means well" he leaned back against a table and looked over at Lily who was standing a few metres in front of him with a small smile on her face. Her hair has grown over the summer and now reached half way down the back of her navy jumper. "_Wow she is beautiful_" he thought. After a few minutes he realised he was staring at her. HE frantically searched his mind to remember what they had been talking about. "What is your mum like?"

She looked down and paused for a second before replying. Lily was determined not to get emotional in front of Potter. Only four months earlier Lily had got a letter from Hogwarts telling her that her mum was ill. She had barely left her side all summer and it had pained her to watch her mum get sicker and sicker. She had tried her best to help her dad but it had been a hard process. The only positives was that Petunia was out of the house. Just thinking about her mum made her want to cry. So she took a deep breath, checked her facial expression and replied "She is wonderful."

They talked for a few more minutes before Lily told him she would see him in Dumbledore's office later that night.

He had barely responded with "Yeah sure" when Lily had spun around and raced out of the room

She walked frantically until she reached her friends compartment and sat down with her friends, delving into their meaningless conversation with a fake smile on her face, trying to push Potter being head boy to the back of her head.

Meanwhile James returned to his best friends who were in the middle of planning their next Full Moon adventure. He leaned back, thought of Lily smiling back at him. She had definitely warned to him. Maybe his dad was right, maybe this year she would say yes.


	2. Chapter 2

News spread quickly at the feast that Lily Evans and James Potter were Head girl and Head boy together. It was no secret that they struggled to get on. In fact most of the school started to place bets on how soon they would have a public row. Louis Mann put 2 gallons on the day before the Halloween feast, Josiah placed 2 gallons and 3 sickles on November 1st, Sirius put 3 Gallons on the next day and Dumbledore himself bet that they would never have a fight in public.

Their first meeting with Dumbledore went smoothly and he informed them of their duties. They arranged meetings to organise the prefect's patrols and plan their bi weekly meetings with them. Lily was surprised at how well they got on. She could honestly say that James Potter had matured. When he met her he was surprisingly organised. But he was also considerate. He remembered when the prefects had astronomy and planned so that they would not be on patrols the night after ("they can't have two bad nights sleep in a row. How will they do classes the next day).

Dumbledore had requested that they spend some time getting to know each other, and James certainly had no objections. So for after they arranged to have patrols together. The first few nights had been awkward, with James determined to impress Lily and Lily determined to have as little to do with James as possible. After a few two weeks on patrol, they reached a comfortable stance.

On their patrol on the fourth week of term James was unusually quiet. He was tired from the night before when he had spent the night with Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail in the cliffs outside hogsemade. It had been a successful night, with them discovering the new cave and an unusual breed of niffler who lived there. Unfortunately he had hurt his arm at some point during the night and while he was great at healing it was still causing him some pain.

He yawned and stretched his arms out only to groan in pain.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You, basically just yelped. Are you hurt or something."

"No I am fine." He replied stiffly

"Great! Then you won't mind me doing this." She said, before leaning over and hitting him on the arm as she continued walking.

"Hell! Evans!" he yelled in pain, "What did you do that for?"

"You said there was nothing wrong with your arm…."

"You don't hit people just because they are ok." He sighed and kept on walking.

"Why don't you let me look at your arm."

"No,"

She stopped walking outside a classroom and said in a stern voice that kind of resembled professor McGonagall; "Potter. You are going to go into this classroom. You are going to sit down. And you are going to let me heal your stupid arm."

He stopped, he turned around and stared at her in surprise. He meet her determined gaze and once again decided she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen before wandering into the class room and sitting on a chair.

She walked over to him, when she stopped just in front of him she said "Take your shirt off."

"Evans, I didn't have you pegged as this sort of girl." He teased

"Shut up and take of your shirt."

He obeyed unbuttoning his shirt and sliding it of his arms, only hesitating when pulling it off his injured arm. Lily didn't notice his discomfort, she was too busy acknowledging for the first time that Potter had a great body. It was a fact that everyone else had already agreed upon, but Lily had been too busy hating him to notice how athletic he looked. She quickly suppressed those thoughts and chided herself on not being ridiculous.

She leaned forward and looked at his left arm. Even though he had performed healing spells the wound was still far from being better. She wanted to be a healer and so had spent the summer studying healing books while looking after her mum, so after a few seconds of trying to recall the spell for banishing infections she pulled her wand out of her pocket and started to wave it around his arm.

She furrowed her brow as she concentrated. Meanwhile James was revelling in having the girl he had fancied for so long look after him. She was unbelievably caring. Although he already knew that. But even he was surprised it extended to people like him who she did not particularly like.

After about twenty minutes and eight different spells the wound in his arm was completely healed, leaving no scar.

"That is amazing. It doesn't even hurt anymore. Cheers Lily" James exclaimed staring down at his healed arm

"Your welcome James. Now are you going to tell me what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"How did you get hurt."

"Ehh… Ermm… I… I can't… actually remember… yeah."

She looked disappointed, "Potter." He noted the use of his second name, "You can tell me."

"No, I can't. It's not really my secret to tell."

She stared at him, he had sounded sincere and his eyes pleaded with her to drop it.

"Ok."

Twenty minutes later as they finished their patrol of the sixth floor corridor and started to head back up to the dorms James turned around to Lily and boldly asked; "are we friends now."

"I hadn't really thought about it. Do you want to be my friend?"

"You know I do." He responded.

Lily couldn't help but blush, "Ok then. James Potter. We are friends."

They walked the rest of the way in silence, but James had a massive grin on his face. A year earlier Lily Evans had hated him and now she had agreed to be his friend. She was definitely warming to him.


	3. Chapter 3

Dear Mum,

I am really glad to hear that the medicine is making you feel better. And I am definitely relieved at you sleeping. I was really worried and I know Dad was too. I hope you are looking after him now that I have gone. (I am only teasing; he can look after himself very well).

I am surprised to hear about Petunia getting engaged. Do not roll your eyes. You don't know how I feel about Vermin. I mean Vernon. Ok you do. Everyone does. I have hardly kept it a secret. The guy is an oaf. She could do better.

Now I know you would say I am biased because she is my sister, but you know we barely tolerate each other right now. Technically I should be saying she should marry him to get her out of the house. But I am not, because even if she drives me crazy she is still too good for him.

Whatever you do do not force her to make me bridesmaid. We all know she has friends who she would rather do it. And do not give me arguments about how you want a beautiful wedding picture just like you had with your sister at your wedding when she was bridesmaid. Auntie Jean was your best friend. I am not petunias.

In answer to your question school is going great. I mean NEWTs are impossibly hard. I am studying constantly but I like the challenge and Slughorn told me he expected I would get an O in potions. I mean I don't like to count my chickens before the eggs hatch but he was pretty confident.

Being head girl is great. I am already good friends with the prefects so its been good getting to know them better, and the new prefects are fab. I think I told you but James Potter is Head Boy. Yes that James Potter. Yes the one who I cursed in third year and they sent a letter home about it. Yes the one who I hate.

Surprisingly though he is not too bad. We have to spend a lot of time together and he has matured A LOT. He hasn't even asked me out yet and we have been at school a whole month. I am pretty sure it's a record.

He is full of surprises. The other day I walked in on him comforting a first year who was homesick. He was so kind and genuine. After about ten minutes the boy was laughing his head off and left James with a big smile on his face. I asked Marlene why he has changed so much this year and she asked me what I was on about. Marlene says he has always been this way. I am not sure I trust her, but Alice agreed and she has known James since they were babies.

But he did do all that mean immature stuff. Bullying Severus and cursing people who annoyed him just for fun. So he must have changed. I can't just have misunderstood him for 6 years. I mean last year he wasn't that bad. He has matured a lot. HE even looks different. More like a man and less like a stupid kid if that makes sense.

Let me know how you are getting on and don't forget to keep me updated on wedding plans.

Say hi to dad for me.

Lily x

Dad,

We have it sorted. The Halloween prank to end all pranks. After much Negotiation Sirius has talked the ghosts and some of the portraits into being involved, the entire school will be terrified. It will go down in history.

I feel like I might be bigging it up too much right now but I am so excited. SO EXCITED. Last night Peter had a bit of a panic. He is concerned its all going to fall apart and we will get in so much trouble. Sirius and I tried to reassure him but apparently we lack credibility. Who knew?

I have to say that mum would be appalled at the comment you made in your last letter. I can't believe you are being critical of me being at Hogwarts a month without getting a detention. First, parents generally don't want their kids to get in trouble in school. Second, if mum saw that she would tut for hours and go on a rant about how I am in every way your son, and moan about the fact I am not like her. You know that it is true.

I suppose I should tell you something that you can tell mum instead of details of my prank. So I got an O in my Transfiguration paper.

Also Head boy duties are going well. It is a lot of work though, and it means I have a lot less time to commit to pranking. But it definitely has it's benefits. And yes I am talking about a ginger haired Head girl who happens to be sitting across the common room from me as I write. She has decided that we are friends now. Considering a year ago she hated my guts this is a welcome improvement.

And dad, being her friend is awesome. She is unbelievably funny. I knew she was smart and gorgeous and kind, but yesterday she told me this joke about a hag. I was in stitches for about ten minutes. I will tell you next time I am home. It wouldn't work the same on paper. She is also incredibly thoughtful. She never puts me on extra patrols with the prefects from Slytherin because she knows how I feel about them.

I guess that is enough gushing about Lily. Sirius just started reading my letter over my shoulder and is laughing hysterically and called me pathetic. So I am going to take that as a note to say bye.

James

P.s. This is Sirius, just adding on to say that I hope your ok and I realised I left my favourite Red socks at your house. Marshie the house elf will know which ones I am talking about. Sirius x


	4. Chapter 4

James wandered down to breakfast. He was in a good mood after a night of planning the Halloween prank with his best friends. The details had been decided and all had tasks to complete to ensure success in their mission. The banter and fun had resulted in good humour. However the thought of his only task had not.

He had been instructed to speak to Lily on behalf of the others to speak with Lily. The boys had decided it was essential to for her to approve of the prank.

Sirius's reasoning had been surprisingly convincing. The night before he had been sitting on his bed with his best friends sitting around him, Sirius on his own bed, Peter on Remus's and Remus sitting on a wooden stool. Sirius had leaned forward and said "So, James. We should give you the most important task of all. You my good man have to get approval from Lily Evans, Head girl extraordinaire."

"What? Why? You know Lily will never approve of anything that we plan. Telling her would be stupid."

"No telling her is genius. First, because she watches like a hawk, do remember in 5th year when we planned that trick, the one with the lake. Do remember Lily found out about it and stopped it from happening? Because she knew we were up to something she was determined to stop it and she succeeded. As you hang out with her all the time she will know something is up. Secondly, she is hanging out with you all the time. And we all know how you go gooey eyes and can't think when she is around you so you will let someone slip. Third, Lily is just warming you, and trust me mate, we are all rooting for this to happen, but she might feel a bit betrayed if she finds out you are doing stuff behind her back. Finally Prongs my friend, by telling her she will think you are open, honest, kind and maturing."

After thinking about it for the rest of the night James could not fault his logic. So as he walked into the great hall he located Lily easily. It was a Friday morning and it was still early so the great hall was empty and so was the seat next to Lily Evans. So he slid into it.

"Morning Lil" he grinned at her, she turned and smiled back at him, her eyes were particularly sparkly this morning.

She smiled back at him widely, "Morning Jamsie,"

"Did you sleep well?"

"Very, did you?" she asked taking another bit of her toast.

"like a flobberworm"

She laughed, "Do they even sleep?"

"No idea. I never really paid attention in care for magical creatures." He admitted, to his surprise his comment was greeted with a laugh. He loved that Lily now laughed at what he said, something which had been happening more and more over the past month. Her laugh was melodic and it made her face light up. He was delighted they were friends, now he had to only hope their relationship evolved further. He poured milk into his cereal, "Can I talk to you about something?"

"sure, what's up?"

"So, the boys and I are planning a little Halloween prank. And we thought it would be a good idea to talk to you about it first."

"You want my approval? To do a prank? Have you met me?" she said in a tone that sounded quite like professor Mcgonagall but also contained a hint of amusement.

"Not your approval so to speak, but we didn't want to earn your disapproval."

"hmmm…. Will anyone get hurt?"

"No. Of course not."

"It doesn't involve cursing people?"

"No. Not at all"

"Will you destroy any school property?"

"No."

"Damage any?"

"I am not going to rule it out. But I hope not."

She paused for a second. "Will I laugh?"

"Hysterically," he smiled down at her.

"Then ok. I do not disapprove."

"cheers Lily."

They ate their toast in companiable silence for a few moments. Lily was amazed that James cared so much about her opinion to ask her about a prank. Was he really not willing to risk her anger to the extent that he would cancel their marauder's yearly Halloween prank? It was practically a legendary event.

"How are you finding the transfiguration homework?" she asked shyly.

"Simple."

"Seriously? How can you do no work and still be so smart?"

"I am just that gifted," he replied smugly, "Well… at transfiguration… I struggle with potions. I have to work a lot harder for that."

"Yeah, I just do not understand the essay."

"Well we both have a free period last thing today, so I could help you out, if you want." He asked tentatively, he didn't want to think he was being a show off. He genuinely wanted to help.

"Thanks that sounds great."

"Great. Library at 3?"

"Perfect."

They chatted casually about their classes that day until they were joined by Alice and Marlene who monopolised Lily's attention. James turned around and chatted casually to some of the guys on his Quidditch team.

When they left the grand hall to go to class Marlene and Alice pulled Lily into a classroom. Marlen closed the door behind it, while Alice pushed her into a chair.

They both stood in front of her staring intently.

"Spill" Marlene demanded.

"Spill what?" Lily looked up at her friend slightly intimidated by their piercing stares.

"What is going on with you and Potter?" Alice asked with a serious look on her face.

"Nothing is going on. Why?"

"When we walked in you were sitting beside him and chatting away happy to him."

"So?"

"You hate him?"

"I don't hate him. I never hated him. He just irritated me."

"uhuh." Marlene responded taking over from Alice.

"And what about Monday night when you laughed at his joke like a maniac."

"It was a funny joke."

"Not that funny. What about Saturday when you both flirted the whole way through dinner?"

"I… We… There was no flirting. You are being ridiculous."

"Alice, back me up."

"You were flirting."

"Nothing is going on" Lily protested.

Alice looked annoyed at her friend, "You better be serious Lil' I love you, your one of my best friends. But James is the best guy in the world and everyone knows he is in love with you. If you lead him on I don't think I will ever be your friend again."

Lily looked at her friend. Her threat sounded surprisingly serious.

"I won't lead him on." Lily replied, "I Promise."

They looked down at her nodded and all three of them headed to class. As they walked Lily reflected on what they said. Had she been flirting with James at the weekend? Was she leading him on? But as she wandered into charms the thought that weighed heaviest on her mind concerned Alice's comment. Was James Potter in love with her?


	5. Chapter 5

The rest of Lily's day went well. She managed to brew the perfect Angel's Trumpet Draught in Potions, earning her more praise from Slughorn than usual. She had a productive free period where she managed to complete her herbology essay. After her free period she went to charms where Flitwick let them chat as they practiced lighting fire with their wands. She listened to Alice chat happily about Frank and Marlene lament about being single. Defence against the dark arts was fascinating; it focused on counteracting serious spells.

The only downside of the day was the fact that James Potter was there. Not just physically there, because that was always the case (they had been in all the same classes since first year after all). But there in her head. Something she was not happy about it.

She didn't know why she was so affected. Was it simply because he had told her about the prank that morning or was it because of Alice's warning. One question that stuck on her head was whether or not James was in love with her. He had always paid her a lot of attention. More than any other girl. Since third year he had asked her out repeatedly. He had flirted with her almost daily, even though she consistently rejected his pursuit of her. But he couldn't be in love with her, he had had multiple girlfriends. On the other hand none had lasted long and most refused to acknowledge her existence after James had dumped them. Was she the reason he had broken up with them? She chided herself for even asking that question.

James Potter was not in love with her. He just enjoyed winding people up. Besides he didn't do that now they were friends. He hadn't asked her out all of this year. And she was relieved about that. Or at least that is what she kept telling herself. Try as she might, though, she was eagerly awaiting that afternoon when they would be working on her transfiguration homework together. So much so that she spent the last five minutes of defence against the dark arts counting down.

James meanwhile was quietly looking forward to tonight, he had casually told his friends what they would be doing, saying that it was no big deal. But he lied, the fact that Lily was really willing to spend time with him and was trusting him enough to help her was a big deal. It had been something he had been working towards since the end of fifth year, during the time he was sure she would never talk to him again. Remus, Sirius and Peter knew he was lying. They acknowledged it was a big deal. After all he was their best friend, they had watched him chase after Lily Evans since third year when he decided Lily was the girl he would marry. So they had kept quiet, knowing if they made a big deal out of it they risked making James nervous and getting his hopes up.

At the end of Transfiguration as the rest of the class emptied out of the room James approached Lily. She was throwing her books into her bag. James grabbed two that wouldn't fit out of her hands. "Let me carry them."

"You don't have to." She protested blushing. Then blushed more because she was blushing.

"I might as well, we are walking the same place."

"You have your own books to carry,"

"Actually I don't remember I am a lot smarter than everyone else, I don't need to study."

"Sarcastic laugh escaped her mouth. She considered apologising but then noticed he was grinning down at her cheerfully. "_Has his smile always been so handsome?" _she wondered.

She followed him out of the room and into the library. They found a quiet section in the back hidden behind the restriction section where they could talk without disturbing anyone.

James got out a transfiguration book and a quill. He was trying to be serious knowing that she had genuinely asked for his help and he couldn't screw it up. Lily on the other hand was surprised at how serious he was. He paused to think about the answers to her questions and listened to her moaning patiently.

They left their stuff when they went to grab food from the grand hall at dinner. They brought it back to the library and had a picnic on their desk. He was telling jokes and told her the story of how he used to create stories based around his food. "So there was always Mr Carrot who married Mrs Broccolli, Peas where their children."

"Seriously, how old were you when you did this?"

"I still do it." He laughed and picked up his green bean three green beans form his plate "This is the green bean triplet."

She laughed loudly before remembering she was in the library and stifling her giggles but putting food in her mouth.

"Are you sure you can fit that sandwich in your mouth."

She nodded, with her too full to talk. A few seconds later she turned to James, "James what to seagulls eat."

"I don't know."

"See food" she replied sticking her tongue out and showing him the contents of her mouth. He responded by laughing hysterically.

They spent the next half hour giggling on and off. James was amazed, spending time with Lily Evans in real life was so much better than spending time with Lily Evans in his head. She was even more beautiful and funny than he had always imagined. He was a little in awe of her and it took a lot of effort to tear himself away from their conversation and get back to transfiguration.

They worked until late in the library. At half nine James yawned and suggested that they go back to common room. Lily nodded and they packed up their stuff. Lily stopped to chat to Madam Pince on the way out. She chatted happily to madam Pince about the librarian's Halloween costume. James was amazed, of course Lily would be able to charm the mean librarian. Was there anyone immune to her charms.

"How do you do that?" he asked her as they entered the dark corridor outside.

"Do what?"

"Charm people, you handled Madam Pince so well."

"Says Mr James-i-can-do-anything-and-get-away-with-it-Potte r. Everyone thinks you are amazing and you love it."

"Your right I do. I am effortlessly charming and handsome."

"In your head," she muttered.

"At least I can always count on you to keep my feet on the ground."

"Of course, what would you do without me."

When they reached the common room the Fat lady was drinking wine with her friend Violet. "Hey beautiful lady," James flirted, "Can you let us in."

"Look at these two." Said Violet, "why are they not screaming at each other? Is that not what they normally do?"

"Yeah. Maybe they are friends now."

Violet shook her head and responded "No these two could never be friends, they hate each other. I remember about four years ago Potter poured frog spawn over Evan's head. She squelled, cursed him and swore she would never be friends with him."

"So what are they doing together?" the Fat Lady argued.

"Hello, we are right here." Lily butted in.

"Oh yeah, password"

"Purple tadpole." James responded impatiently,

When they entered the common room James paused awkwardly and looked at her , "So I am going to bed. Quidditch practice at 7,"

"Yeah, and I know how you need your beauty sleep," she teased.

"yeah." He smiled down at her and said, "I am sorry for the frogspawn." Before wandering off to bed.

* * *

Thank you for reviews follows and favorites so far. Please continue to review, It means alot.

Pottehead thank you for pointing out my mistake.


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